Tribute to Dad

This Sunday will be my first Father’s Day without my dad.

Throughout my childhood, playing and watching sports was the way I connected with my dad. Maybe that’s why all 50 times I’ve watched the last scene of Field of Dreams, I’ve cried when Kevin Costner says “Hey dad, want to have a catch?”

When I was six years old – this is 1963 — I asked my dad why we rooted for the Mets instead of the Yankees. The Mets were abysmal while the Yankees were a legend, and it seemed everyone else rooted for the “right” team. How could we be so wrong? My father’s answer: “Because, dear, we root for the underdogs.”

Look, there’s nothing wrong with rooting for winners… if the Mets ever became perennial winners, I’d be ecstatic. But there’s something special about winning when you’re the underdogs. Thanks, Dad… Let’s Go Mets!

Clearly, for my dad, winning wasn’t the only thing. In fact, dad’s sports mantra (and the sports mantra of my youth) was, “It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.” Today, the sports mantra has become, “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.”

Except with golf! Still today, “golf is a game of honor” and “golf is a gentlemen’s game.” Golf requires just the type of sportsmanship my Dad taught me. Now you might be thinking… hmmm, Patty doesn’t care if she wins or loses? HA! My mother can tell you stories of what I’m like after a loss. There’s slamming of doors, yelling, kicking, crying… and that was just last week!

Suffice it to say, I like to win and I hate to lose. But golf demands we bring sportsmanship and honor to the game, and they have to come before winning. And that’s why I love golf.

When it comes to what kind of baseball fan you are, the answer is almost always “You are what your father tells you to be.” So on Father’s Day, if you are watching a baseball game remember that you are rooting for a team almost certainly becasue of your father’s influence on you.

This past week at the LI Open, a competitor called the morning of the second day to inform us that while looking over his first day score online the night before, it occurred to him that he hadn’t scored a “5” on a particular hole, he had scored a “6”. Knowing that he would be disqualified for signing for a score lower than that to which he was entitled, he called the LIGA and informed us of his mistake.

Having just laid my Mom to rest yesterday, and with a broken heart … I know how you will be feeling this Sunday 🙁 A long way to next Mothers Day … So hopefully some healing – and a good season for both Mom’s Yankees and Your Dad’s Mets !!!